A snake in the Garden of Asgard
by SAINTIXE56
Summary: Set post TTDW. Thor protects Earth while Odin rules as it is supposed to be. All is well that was supposed to end well in a twisted way ... until Jotuns steal something precious hidden from the All Father by Frigga herself. With the throne come responsibilities. Some mundane as dealing with a rebellious Sigyn. Some dangerous as saving apples from revengeful Giants Reviews welcomed
1. Chapter 1

All started, really started after the insufferable assault on Asgard led by Malekith the Accursed.

Thor, the smiling heir to the Aesir throne. Thor, Odin's first born and true heir had left the Realm Eternal to settle on Midgard. To protect Earth and its feeble citizens and to enjoy life by his lady the mortal known as Jane Foster. Odin had not banished his son though he could have done so. It was the rebellion of his eldest child with the complicity of his adopted other son which had saved Asgard from the Darkness. As such Thor was a traitor; as such Thor was a hero.

The All-Father could not find in him to forbid his child the few minutes. fleeting years of happiness he could get by the side of a mortal whose lifespan was but ephemeral. Thor left Asgard, ready to stand by its side in battle. Ready to join the friends he had called the Avengers.

Earth had sustained two severe blows in its cities of London and New York. Asgard had been badly hit by the Dark Elves. The time for reconstruction had begun. The time to face the consequence of loss had also come.

Frigga, the Queen, the gentle mother to two young princes had died to save the Golden city. It seemed but yesterday when two boys one as blond as his younger sibling was dark haired were running in the palace corridors. These were happy days when the House of Odin harbored no traitor. Then like a cliff slowly yet steadily devoured by relentless waves, the Royal family had sustained loss upon loss.

First, there had been the discovery that Silver-Tongue the prince grown in the shadow of his sunny brother was adopted. The revelation that not only Loki had Jotun blood but tried to kill his adopted brother came to no surprise. Loki had few friends; Loki was jealous at Thor. His fall brought few tears in the people of Asgard. Few were those who shared the grief of his parents and brother. So few. After all, he was a wizard, neck deep in the Dark Arts... Not a mean warrior; yet unable to understand that the song of the sword is nobler than mere words to fight for one's honor.

Then came amazing news: Loki was alive. He had survived the wormhole and had managed to reach Earth. Survived he had; but madness had seized him. To rule Midgard was his plan. Many mortals were killed in the battle of New York. The heroism of the feeble Midgardian Avengers was applauded by the people of Asgard. Thor himself who fought along them put a muzzle to his brother's ambitions. A muzzle like one puts on rabid animals.

Lastly, the fallen runt had been thrown into the deepest cell of the darkest recesses of Asgard dungeons. As it should be and Asgard was hoping nobody would ever mention his name again, unless these traitorous friends of his be named themselves. Not that there were many. But this was not to be.

The vengeful Lord of Svartalfheim had struck the family of Odin Borson. The Queen as the first to fall; then the misbegotten son she had not rejected fought for Asgard along his brother. The criminal, the mass murderer, the snake in the bosom of the House of Odin had redeemed himself as he had helped to save the nine realms from the Darkness. Loki had saved his brother's life and died a hero.

Odin had sent a detachment on the planet of the Dark Elves hoping to save in time his two foolhardy sons along the mortal known as Jane Foster whose body was playing reluctant host to the Aether. All the Einherjars had been able to bring back from the Dark World was the lifeless body of the Trickster. Loki had finally been checkmated. Odin who should have rejoiced to see resolved in such elegant and satisfactory way the conundrum of an adopted son turned traitor turned hero turned dead, did not rejoice.

The royal widower took no joy in being able at long last to be proud of his errant young son. Honor had been restored to his house. All it seemed Odin could perceive, was that he had lost a son.

The Queen had been mourned; was mourned by all. Her funeral was accompanied by all her people. Nobody or so few would have come to the funeral of the mischievous Loki. Nobody or so few would care to be known as Loki's friends. There was no public funeral held. Silver-Tongue was buried without the fracas his last years had caused.

Asgard was licking his wounds like an old tired lion.

-_ "My king, the ambassador of Vanaheim would like to discuss trade… and the ladies of the Order of Njord would like to ask the permission…"_

_- "Not today. I have done my duty to the Realm. I want… to be left alone. I have to think… about Thor."_

_- "Yes, my king. Your wish is our command"_

Asgard Vizier and all the counselors of the Throne left after deeply bowing to the All Father. Then the guards left, following the cue of a nervous sign of dismissal. Odin was alone in the Throne room. The king had aged. It took time longer to walk down the steps despite the help of his staff. Slowly he reached a column, similar to all the columns. A flick of fingers revealed a small darkened entrance. The king entered the dark hole while the door closed silently behind him.

Inside, lighted by flickering torches, laid a turning staircase going downward. The royal instep underwent a transformation. Gone were the tired back and the slow moves limited by age; the king seemed young again, running down the stairs to reach another secret door.

The door was leading to another room. A room where Odin entered with the same tired achy moves he had left the throne room with. A woman was waiting for him. Eir, the most skilled healer of the nine realms was waiting for him. But not looking at him.

The object of her attention was placed at the centre of the room. There floating in the air, connected to wisps of flame and occult smokes, was Loki resting. Loki or Loki's body. The difference was significant. The princely skin was paler than usual and no air lifted his lungs. He was asleep and a thick dressing was covering his chest wound.

_- "How is he doing?"_

_- "Still comatose, my King. That our soldiers brought back him alive must be counted as a true miracle. The wound was so deep. It must have entered the heart but by the width of a hair. And so much blood was lost."_

_- "Will he ever awake?"_

_- "Who knows? The thread of his life is so frail; yet he fights. Maybe … he hears us. Prisoner of his own mind… Unable to wake up. Eternally asleep."_

_- "He has caused enough damage… he certainly was quite busy before Kurse calmed him down for good. Rest cannot harm him. … And Asgard is safe. If he hears us, this will be a consolation to him. Asgard is safe in my hands; just as much as Midgard is with his brother Thor now living among his ... entertaining friends."_

Eir raised her eyebrows. She knew Odin since at least two millenia still after all these years, she was unsure on what the All Father stood. His youngest son who had fallen so low to rise so high as to die a hero was lying there about dead and probably no better than dead yet the king was almost flippant. Almost rejoicing at the enforced immobility of his far from innocent child. No surprise then if the son was known for his cruel tongue when his adoptive sire thought it a matter of jest as to witness his child distress. The healer retired to another room where one of her assistants was pensively looking at a sparkling dust. Odin was again alone but for the sleeper lost in a world where probably nightmares were more frequent than sweet dreams.

_- "Sleep well, father… Thor is happy with his mortal woman and his vulgar friends. As for Asgard, I rule and frankly… nobody is missing you. I hope you do not mind the little trick I pulled by switching bodies. The soldier who collected my bloodied envelop has been sent far away; his mind is… I am afraid to say… slightly confused by the experience. But you… you, I am sure, you must enjoy every second as to what it feels to be locked in!"_

Eir and her assistant whose eyes were downcast had come back. The Queen had a project; indicated a direction for the healers' research assistant but with the Queen gone, Odin has ordered to stop to look into it. Odin, these days, wanted to build more defenses. More weapons; more warfare to develop. The Dark Elves war had barely ended and Odin was pining for another war. Against Jotunheim… What was the king thinking?

The curious thoughts held by Odin were mercifully not heard by the two women. Odin left by the exit door of Eir's personal rooms; this time, going to another hall where later he was to meet his generals.

_- "Your bow to the king was … economical, child"_

The assistant shrugged; her dedication belonged to Eir. Odin was her king. Not her prince.

_- "Tonight, my sister has begged for my company. May I retire early?"_

The assistant was hard-working and devoted to the healers' halls. When she had not been day and night available to treat the wounded and close the eyes to the warriors, she had been pursuing the Queen's command of a secret spell. Even Eir knew naught about it; except it would change drastically Asgard. For the better… or the worse. It was sorcery at its most delicate yet powerful. Odin had been too busy to pay much attention to his wife's pursuit. Later, he had approved of it without bothering to learn about it. Anything which was distracting the Queen from her grief at her son's loss was meeting his approval. Frigga might be dead; the assistant was following her Queen's lead. Eir was not sure whether Odin would approve where said research was going; the King was asking no question; thus the matter was closed. The Queen still held sway a year and more after her death. Odin was asking no question; Eir was glad that she had been spared from providing the answer.

-_ "You can leave; our patient is quiet…. Eerily quiet. He will not wake up tonight. Go, child"_

The assistant left and went on walking briskly to the changing rooms. She quickly removed the dress of the healers and undid the severe hair bun letting down a ginger blonde mane. As she combed and dressed her hair in soft braids while looking at the reflection in the mirror, she smiled at the absence of any resemblance with her sister. One was tall, gracefully yet strongly limbed, and extra-verted with locks as raven back as her younger sister who was certainly not tall, but shy and by all means not a warrior. Yet the two were true blood sisters. Sif and Sigyn. The lady whose sword was legendary and the child whose life was dedicated at healing wounds her sister had caused.

As the night was falling on Asgard and Odin was struggling to keep his temper in check while the ministers of trade of some distant allies were droning at obscure references about the exchange rate on something or another; the light steps of Sigyn were taking her back to her ancestral home.

Hidden in the shadows, something was moving closer to the hall where Eir and her sleeping charge were all alone.


	2. Chapter 2

At the palace, the banquet was going in full swing. The king was still negotiating the trade agreement between Dwarves and Elves while doing his best to avoid causing offense to this clan from this tribe, and the opposite around. If Silver-Tongue had been quickly forgotten, his skill with words was not as all could see who had trained the miscreant of Asgard. Odin was the All Father and tonight he was the embodiment of diplomacy. Waves after waves of envoys, ambassadors, ministers, princelings were reaching him. Some were leaving with a smile, some with just a crumb of approval. The King knew to play the fine harmonies of bonhomie, doubt, politeness and imperial stare.

Slowly though, the evening was entering the night. The king was bowing to another envoy that naturally had to express his condolences for his losses; once again the king was graciously acknowledging the more or less sincere sympathy. The Queen had been universally loved; his younger son had been feared, despised, overlooked. The best hope he could look for his child was for him to be truly forgotten as a youngest son whose name lost in obscure genealogies would give excitation to archivists in millenia to come as the scandalous adopted prince. A prince who had not lived up to what was expected from him but who had been able to die properly.

The party was far from over: the elves had at least three if not five newly appointed emissaries; the dwarves were not to be outdone as they had an envoy for each kind of metal they mined! The All Father was graciously acknowledging each and every ambassador, counsillor, envoy each realm but mismanaged Midgard felt duty-bound to send for and saunter in the numerous corridors of Asgard royal palace.

Outside, Einherjars were patrolling. Not that they doubted Heimdall's sincere dedication to protect the Realm Eternal from invaders; nor that they suspected him of lingering treason. The keeper of the Rainbow Bridge had not betrayed his king; some might say his role had leaned on the shady side of prevarication about the truth; these who believed such tales were wrong. The warrior- whose life was to keep a solitary vigil on the Bifrost was checking each and every realm for a potential enemy.

The enemy the soldiers were looking for was from within. Since Malekith assault and subsequent defeat, something had changed in Asgard. Something which had the acrid whiff of rebellion.

Something had changed. Some had started to question… worse to challenge the authority of the All Father! Here and there, one could find in the morning posters placard on walls questioning Odin's fitness to rule.

'Odin is an old Man'

'Time to rest, All Father'

'Once a wise king but not now!'

The general population was aghast: this was the king of Asgard who was put on trial. True, the king had almost lost it after the Queen's death; but this unsteady hand had been but so brief and his grief so legitimate. The Dark Elves were no more! Odin's hand was firm and wise.

'Call back Thor!'

'Your first-born is our only hope'

'All Father is an unfit patriarch'

The posters carried on their abuse. The soldiers were trying to find what the worked-up disgruntled rebels wanted. Apparently, Odin's not-so-wise decisions have been noticed and the undisputed rule of the House of Odin was challenged: some Asgardian elders were blaming openly Jane Foster. The Midgardian had taken leave to ask – bold as brass! 'who do you think you are?- to the king. Egalitarian Midgardian ways had no place in the Aesir kingdom! What was Thor thinking when he left Asgard for her? The Warriors Three were not happy about the situation but were seen to patrol the streets as for Sif; she was with her friends avoiding the palace who had suddenly become irrelevant since the only inhabitant worthy of her interest had moved out to another realm.

Pretentious child names paraded at the bottom lines of the libelous posters. The Einherjars were patrolling and catching no rebel. Names were not hidden. Who was the Enchantress? And … the Executioner? All the Loreleis have been interrogated and each woman, girl and grandmother had provided a perfect alibi. As for the character called Skurge, it fitted the theory of rebels hiding behind ridiculous avatars their closeness to the throne. Some Asgardians had taken to verify when and where some famous warriors (naming no names) were going to; but again this line of investigation had lamentably been taken apart.

The four rebels were on the loose; spouting their vile abuse against the king while challenging him as the cowards they were, hidden in the shadows.

Tonight, Sif was entertaining her friends in her Hall before night watch. Odin did not need his faithful warriors to make pretty talk to the finest of the diplomatic representatives of the foreign powers. Rather, he wanted them to stop the filth from spreading on his walls.

Volstagg was holding his cup while Fandral was about gone and busy cajoling Hogun to visit a certain house where ladies were known to be friendly with heroic warriors. Sif was trying to set the record of successful daggers used as darts on a target looking like a Kronan.

_- "You say nothing, sister"_

The young healer gave a start as her elder sister called her out.

_- "I apologize, dear sister. I have been quite busy with all the wounded brought to our healing halls. I am so tired I make a poor companion. Allow me to retire before I dampen the merry mood of your party"_

_- "You may leave. I admit I forget that my little sister has grown up so much she is now Eir's assistant. Go to your bedchamber. Asgard' warriors' need you fit and rested."_

A long time ago, Sif' parents had been opposed to a daughter' ambitions as to become a Valkyrie but this had been nothing compared to the outrage they had felt when their quiet youngest daughter had informed them that since Magic was strong in her, she was to enter a Healer apprenticeship.

"Our daughter, a wizard! Nobody will want to marry you. What have we done to have as daughters, one who delights into un-maidenly pursuits planning to be killed on a battlefield while the youngest engages in unsavory knowledge and filthy sorcery? Are you planning to follow the steps of Odin's wicked son?"

If Thor, Odin's first born had wholeheartedly supported Sif enthusiasm for a martial life, Loki had been totally indifferent to the fate of the Asgardian Amazon's kinswoman. Sif parents had grudgingly accepted Sif training along the other warriors; it had taken the Queen's protection to allow them to grant their little innocent child to enter the healing halls as a trainee. Years after, Sif with her double sword was recognized as a redoubtable opponent while her mouse of a sister was accepted as a good healer though not much of a talker. Sif shone, outshone her sibling. Here the difference stopped. There was no envy from her sister. The sorceress was practicing good healthy wholesome magic: she was an asset to Eir, Frigga approved of her and the king had been known to congratulate her on her finishing exams as she had successfully provided Asgard with a spell to counteract Bilgesnipe Fever. The two sisters loved dearly each other, harbored no rivalry. Sif might think Sigyn odd; Sif would not tolerate to hear one word against her wizardly sister!

If only Loki had but followed the same steps as Sif sister; if only he had remained on the good path aiming at being useful to his fellowmen limiting his ambitions to serve his father and brother instead of giving in to green envy and vengeful jealousy. If only…This had not been.

Justice, immanent justice had served right the Trickster. At least, the wicked had died honorably fighting for Asgard. Less spoken about him the better. The realm was a nicer place since Loki was dead and magic was only practiced by good girls like little Sigyn.

Sigyn bids farewell to her sister's guests as the Warriors Three leave her home accompanied by Sif. The healer was strict about her daily routine; so strict one wonders where did the merry child go who was running behind her sister's steps? Thor friends waved goodbye to the sleepy maid as she closed her door behind her.

All was safe in Asgard except for the odious rebels who had dared to question Odin.

_- "Good evening to you, my Lady. Good evening to you, my lords. Have you noticed anything untoward?"_

Asgard's finest had seen nothing, heard nothing but on the wall, once again an offending poster was sprawling on the wall.

'Asgard, wake up. Your king is in his dotage'

-_ "Who are these traitors? Why can't we stop them or at the very least arrest them?"_

But the rebels remained unidentified, relishing the mystery, tantalizingly blending with the shadows. How did they know when and where to strike? It seemed almost like some magic was involved as they knew exactly the time where no guard was patrolling in the area they planned to target. A counselor had raised the ill humor of Hogun when the silly man had suggested that one could say that the Warriors Three position signaled to the conspirators where to strike as in the opposite direction. Odin had given a long look at the offended, dour Vanir and his faithful friends and suggested a long rest to the idiot.

Once again tonight, posters were being stuck to walls preaching something which would turn soon into a call for open revolution. Tonight Sif and Fandral while Hogun and Volstagg were looking here and there yet their hands remained empty at catching the empty shadows. Tonight at the palace party, the King sighed alone.

Alone. There was no more a Queen to enchant his eyes; gone is the wise counselor who was helping him to go through the tedious process of ceremonies. Lost forever was his wife. Lost were his sons. Thor was too much on Midgard. Loki… well, Loki was the only one who had known what statecraft was about; the only one who could provide the overview, helping in simplifying the problems. Loki, the born diplomat when his heart was not set of making fools out of his foreign counterparts; Loki was dead. Malekith might not have turned over the universe to the Darkness but when it had come to the House of Odin, the Dark Elf had succeeded way over his wildest dreams. The King's private Life was dark indeed. He grieved his wife; he could not … he would not grieve his errant young son. He was not allowed to grieve; which was worse. If only Thor was here, Thor would help him. With the Thunderer, he would sort of be able to drop the mask. But this was not allowed either. Thor was happy on Earth; this was his only consolation. Thor was happy and the King was lonely. A King without friends, without a Queen. So lonely.

By now, the guests were leaving. More posters had been discovered and ripped away from the walls. The shadows were once more managing to step back further away from whatever Asgard could conjure to catch them up red-handed…

The party was over and the king looked over his sleeping realm from the balcony of his bedchambers, not to be disturbed. What sort of king would he be if he ordered undisturbed sleep? The knock on the door was faint; still it was audible and Odin called in the intruder.

The guard was not alone. Hot on his heels stood the Captain of the Red Hawks whose face was about as flushed as his helmet.

-_ "My King. More posters have been found; and all of them have been destroyed"_

_- "I suppose you are not there to inform me of the obvious. Has any arrest been made?"_

The soldier started to cough and hesitate.

_- "Speak!"_


	3. Chapter 3

_- "…Well, it is not so much an arrest… but a misunderstanding…. You see; we did not… I mean it was just an unfortunate circumstance…"_

The king did not look impressed: who had been arrested who should not have been arrested? Who was innocent and now was writing, no doubt, a very long, very detailed letter of complaint directed to him? Odin shuddered at the idea of more diplomatic smiles and faked interest into boring elfin genealogies.

_- "It was … it started simply. We were lucky… we believed ourselves lucky to have found by sheer luck the culprits as they were leaving… but it was not to be"_

_- "Did they escape?"_

The captain coughed more and started stuttering.

_- " My… my king. I have no doubt the young lady will not escape a rare display of paternal displeasure but a traitor to Asgard she is not"_

The king's bewilderment was not faked : his left eye asked to be told more.

_- "It seems the young lady was on a secret assignment… unbeknownst to her father. Her swain who is barely older than her was … was reading her the heroic attempts at wooing of your grandfather Buri. And to make the matters worse, they had a chaperone. Mind you about as old as them. Their parents were certainly not impressed. Not by them … not by us"_

_- "Would you mind to shorten your undoubtedly entertaining tale and give the names of the miscreants. Though… I want to know who are these …no doubt… boring lovers?"_

-_ "… ermmm: Volstagg's oldest daughter is courted by Fandral's nephew. The duena being one of Hogun's many young relatives. Her father was not aware his daughter was keen on being courted … 'bathing in Moonlight shadows, her silver hair semblable to'…"_

The king raised his hand to stop the captain from reciting the poetic stanzas.

_- "Volstagg sent her to bed and strongly advised his friend to teach his nep… I mean Fandral to teach his own nephew this was not the approved way. Fandral chuckled and replied he was unaware of the lad having enough in him for the lady and that he could count … he meant his nephew not Volstagg…"_

_- "Spare me the tale. The truants were sent to bed roundly; Fandral laughed it off, Hogun shook his head, Volstagg started reminiscing on when himself as a youth courting ladies while Sif and Thor… no, not Thor…"_

The captain of the Red Hawks was apologetic.

- _"Forgive my men, All Father. If the idiots have not interrupted the children and had instead focused on real evil-doers… nothing would have happened"._

Such are the lives of kings: sometimes heroism is needed. Most times, it is rather patience, suffering fools. Fandral's nephew wooing Volstagg's eldest daughter. A youth lucky in love and an old man moping for his deceased wife. Life in full circle.

The king flicked his hand to dismiss the captain and the guard ; a sign which did not seem to be picked up by the soldiers.

_- "What next? You arrested one of my own guests. Or one of Brunhildis'Valkyries? Speak!"_

_- "We … I mean one of my own men is to blame. Theoric, our new recruit was worried his intended lady was at risk and believed to have seen her door open. Sif did not take on having her sister suspected to receive hooded guests in the cover of the night. If you could convey my deepest apologies."_

At long last, the flustered troop left the king's room. Leaving him … all alone. The royal shadow sighed again, looking longingly at the balcony to turn his back away and enter his sleeping quarter.

Night was now total. Asgard rebels must be asleep. All Asgard down to his King was asleep. But not Heimdall and certainly not the shadows. Because just like people of the daylight, shadows come in many guises and many sorts.

Some are gentle youths using moonlight to read poems to their lovers; some are cowardly rebels. And some are plain evil.

Odin's sleep was restless, agitated. Until he suddenly jerked up and raised half asleep sitting on his too large bed shouting:

_- "Giants!"_

Jotuns! Giants!

The king jumped from his bed, seizing his staff Gungnir while throwing quickly his armor on and ran out through the door leaving his otherwise silent room. The king was an old man but when the need arose he was as quick and nimble as a young warrior ready to battle, shouting the feared war cry 'For Asgard'.

The Einherjars looked surprised: that there has been an intrusion was not in doubt. Yet unlike recent times, the vault room was just as quiet as the king's bedroom. No Giant had dared to raise a murderous hand against Odin during his sleep; no Jotun had attempted to steal the Casket of Winters.

This time, though, the alarm horn did not call for Frost Giants or Ice Giants. This time, it was about the more Asgardian looking Mountain species. These were cousins to the Giants who threatened regularly the citizens of the Olympus Realm. Being related to monsters belonging to another alien planet did not make them any better. They hit as hard; they hated Asgard just as much as their relatives of the Icy Lands! Knorda was their Queen but a lost battle has seen her exiled with her throne seized by an interloper called Thiazi… A new king who had a lot of things to prove to his subjects.

It should be said that, what the Giants targeted, seemed to be rather mundane, almost innocent. No mighty weapon was involved; rather the opposite as the object of the raid was… the Healing Hall where Eir, her students and many apprentices not to mention the servants devoted their days and nights to the ailing and wounded. Malekith' raging blows against the unsuspecting realm had brought many warriors and many more civilians to visit the healers' rooms.

To attack the symbol of Asgardian care for the weak offended deeply the soldiers. Had the kingdom been brought so low that the Giants could defy it and raid the one place which should be respected?

Unless there was a real need. Jotunheim had been traumatized by Loki's daring attempt to destroy it totally. Half the population of the Frost Giants had been decimated; the resulting geography had seen icy mountains rising from previously cultivated plains. Jotunheim was wounded, Jotunheim was hungry.

Maybe, just maybe, the Giants had attacked the Healing Halls for … medicines. If so, Odin would … should remonstrate Thiazi while offering cargos of relief: food, salves, curing potions. Except with his mind set on war, the helping hand, the generous hand was out of question.

Still worrying, the assault was not on par with the Dark Elves' strike.

Odin bent down to help up the battered Goddess to get up. Eir' millennia had not protected her from grievous harm: she was covered in bruises but she was alive and able to explain what had happened.

_- "I was in the lab, looking at the results again. I could not believe my eyes: the Soul Sieve was repeating the same findings: it was like … an intense moment of profound joy. I was so focused on… I did not hear them"_

_- "What was stolen?"_

The flush on Eir' cheeks said it all. A quick look to the soldiers and the guards retreated in good order down other corridors, other rooms and halls. What was to be revealed was not for their ears; which implied in consequence something very valuable was now lost to Asgard.

Heimdall must have seen nothing because this time the attack did not start through the gates of the Bifrost. Heimdall certainly raised the alarm, but too late.

Not late enough though to prevent an onslaught of other ironic posters to deface Odin's own walls.

'Yesterday Elves, today Giants, tomorrow Surtur?'

'Asgard, wake up before it's too late'.

Odin alone with Eir had opened the secret door leading to Loki' resting place. Was it an eerie burial ground fit for a prince whose crimes had rendered him unworthy of a formal ascension toward the Great Beyond or was there still hope and the prince though so wickedly injured might possibly be brought back to life? The Giants had not noticed or not cared enough for revenge. Laufey's assassin, Laufey's son was lost to his deadly sleep, safe from the vengeful Jotuns.

What was stolen which was more precious than the life of an Odinsson? The secret cache was closed again and Odin was left to interrogate Eir with his masterful one-eyed stare. What was missing?

_- "My Lady… I am… I am so sorry… I have run to the Hall: the alarm woke me up… What… has anything been taken?"_

The guard who had opened the door for Sigyn was watching his king; normally he would not have dreamt of allowing an uninvited guest to barge in Odin's council. But this was not a council and this was not an ordinary visit to the Healing Halls; somehow he knew that the answer as what had been ensnared by the enemies of Asgard was soon to be revealed and by a strange susceptibility, he somehow knew the answer was to be given by Eir assistant.

- _"It is gone. All is gone. All our work, yours, mine, the Queen… what was done before and what you have found since"_

If Sigyn was fair, she was now deadly pale. She was turning around and turning again as to verify her eyes were not deceiving her. Gone, all was gone. Almost three years of research gone.

_- " No… no…No it cannot be. No"_

_- "Are you going to tell me, for Ymir's sake, what the scum of Jotunheim has ravished from the Golden Realm"_

Odin was angry at the attack, concerned as the object of said attack was but the healing hall thus reassured somewhat and now he was frightened. The level-headed Eir was hanging her head down dejectedly as for her apprentice she was livid as she was opening drawers after drawers, hands rummaging into empty shelves followed by emptier ones. Finally, she looked at the king and Odin could have sworn there were unshed tears in her eyes.

-_ "They have done it. They have stolen them. All of them. Each and every one of them. Every single one… They have stolen the apples."_


	4. Chapter 4

It would have made Hogun frown and Sif sneer' it would certainly have caused Volstagg to sniff up the air looking for the one surviving fruit to eat while Fandral would have given a hoot of laughter. As for Thor, dear good old Thor, dear b…best of son, he would at first looked silent until ripples of his enormous capacity for laughs would have been impossible to contain as a tidal wave would have shaken him. Apples! The healers were desperate because poor hungry giants had stolen the remainder of their lunch!

Apples… Except naturally it was not the vulgar fruit. Heimdall would not have raised the alarm, Eir would not have been assaulted and little Sigyn would not be looking like somebody had broken her heart.

Apples: fruit containing seeds inside its core surrounded by edible sweetness while the envelop protects it from hostile environment. What sort of seeds? What kind of sweetness is it that is anymore Asgardian? What are these apples? What were they that the child looked as mortally wounded as … the immobile man in the hidden room?

A quick flash of contained rage in Odin eye sent the interested sentry away. The fool had garnered what he was looking for. Apples had been stolen. Made and done with it. Giants needed food and were ready by any means including following Yggdrasil mysterious pathways to steal some for their people. End of story. End of what?

_- "Tell me more? … What about telling me the truth?"_

All Father witnessed the exchange of glances between Eir and Sigyn. The apprentice was asking to be relieved of the responsibility. Let Eir speak . Eir would speak; it was always interesting to hear the edited version then strike fear in the heart of your opponents by ordering the unabridged truth. Because this was what Kings did. Strike fear and show them all you were at the top of the game...

_- "After the …the fall when you … I mean Thor and Frigga were grieving, the Queen visited me the next day. Her heart was heavy. She was in need of a friend, of somebody who would understand… Naturally her steps took her to my apprentice. After all, if Sif is the ideal Aesir maid for you… Sigyn is the natural companion Frigga approved of. She had granted the child free access to her personal gardens; since ever she has taken …."_

The older healer was giving a sharp warning to her student.

_- "…you under her wing, she has trained you in Magic a lot more than what is deemed acceptable for an apprentice in healing. I know not how far in Magic you have been educated but from what I know the second most powerful wizard in Asgard is you Sigyn and it should be you who carries on with the tale"_

The Royal Staff hit the ground, golden magic surrounded the king. Then the mystical cloud extended one tendril after another tentatively toward the youngest of the two women. Odin was in a towering rage; truths have been denied to him and he was not taking it kindly.

-_ "Forgive me, my king. I have not lied, nor betrayed Asgard"_

Kneeling hurriedly in front of Odin the petite woman was making a clean breast of it.

_- "You will remember how sad the Queen was when you denied her a formal funeral for your son. 'He will survive' you said. Your first-born and Frigga… sorry, I mean the Queen was far from holding the same belief. She came to our halls, looking for some solace. I… I was able to … to find out that the prince was alive… somewhere in the Universe. … I used…"_

_- "Sympathetic Magic tracer. A magic spell worded by my infelicitous …adopted Loki. There are not many around who would keep his magical works at hand. Fool they would be. Loki as a wizard did not waste time for gentle 'lady' magic!"_

If Odin eye speak of might and power, Sigyn' own eyes were replying as defiant. Standing the ground for their owner.

-_ "The Queen's Magic was gentle yet weak she was not. Thanks to her lore, the evil Malekith did not capture the Mortal. It was her gallant sacrifice which bought time and saved Asgard… As for your son, I have … I own some spell of his. A generous spell given willingly by him to me. I used the beseeching call and found that he was still alive as his very own trace…. The ripple of magic… his own signature was still alive._"

The king sat heavily on a stool; his wrist rising as to beg for more.

-_ "Once the Queen knew Loki was alive, she had it he must be wounded, hold in thrall, tortured… We… I mean the Queen and I spent many hours trying to find a healing spell working at such a distance it would encompass the Universe and more. Then, she managed at great cost to contact him through an astral projection. It almost killed her as she traveled down the roots of Yggdrasil into places I will never mention for fear of sullying the Realm Eternal."_

_- "It was a very long fall indeed. My… my Queen was a courageous... wife…"_

_- "After finding him, she naturally went on informing you and Thor trying to assuage your ire against the … the individual responsible of so many villainies. After finding him, I went on trying to find a cure to heal the worst of his wounds. I was hoping… Thor would find him, bring him back and … we would find use for the healing spell… but…"_

But this sort of spell can only work if the recipient was willing. Loki was just as proud and angry at the All Father as the King was justly incensed about his youngest son. Loki was not ill; there was no disease at being lied to. More importantly there was no shame from his point of view. Frigga had spent the last year trying to bring back some sanity in the mind of her poor lost child. Odin was sulking just as much as Loki. Both certain they would be vindicated; both feeling very sorry for themselves.

_- "You think I misjudged my son!"_

_- "Oh no, my King. What he did was wrong and he deserves punishment… he deserved punishment. He served you well for a very long time and he fought nobly along Thor against the Elves. I wish you to remember the playful prince… just like I remember the gifted youth of my childhood"_

Left at her own device with an unfinished healing spell of gigantic proportion, Sigyn had … just like the Queen hiding from her husband to visit her sweet demented son… carried on hiding from everyone, persistent in devising a very powerful spell. The Mother of all spells!

-_ "So powerful it could not be contained by words or the snap of fingers but through the medium of an actual object. It would be contained in a protective container and the middle layer would feed it while the core, the inner part would make… keep the Magic… the seeds of the spell in the right sequence"_

_- "Like an apple"_

_- "Idunn's apple. Frigga called it Idunn's apples. Because it was such a powerful healing spell that it could call back body and soul giving them back an extra lease on life like the Midgardian legend… We are mortals, give or take a few millenia … this spell could heal back to … immortality. Falling in wrong hands…"_

Odin fist slammed into the standing wall behind him. Why nobody has told him? Was he so disregarded by his own people, his own healers nobody had seen to inform him such a fantastic weapon was quietly being achieved in his palace, in his own back-garden?

- _"I discovered the apples but a few days ago. In fact, the day Loki's body was brought to our halls. Sigyn had gone very quiet, very aloof. I believed my apprentice to be over-worked by all the casualties linked to the Elves war. Until I discovered she was spending the hours she should have dedicated to rest … to work on this healing spell."_

As the Queen had approved her research, Sif young sister had proceeded, entering more and more closer to the realm of the Dark Arts. Led by her good heart to save lives, she had managed to transform the healing spell without opening any Necromantic Chronicles. No Black Arts had been summoned. It had cost her a lot; but the apples were good wholesome, acceptable Magic. Odin... Odin had never been informed. Frigga had just vaguely mentioned a project; later Eir had been cryptic and he had missed the hints. Allowing the project to carry on while he was believing all the two stupid women had in mind some salve or reconstituting drink!

-_ "Trust me. With the Giants, your good work will be twisted beyond recognition. You aimed at healing … a man who did not deserve your time nor your loyalty. The Jotuns will be made strong and powerful again. Ready to warfare again… worse now immortal. Ready to send troops to attack our troops again and again. Relentless waves after waves of renewed warriors. Never ending. "_

Eir knew by now how stormy the king's mood was. She tried to deflect his anger from her student but failed._  
_

_- "How many apples had been made? "_

_- "Two. They have never been tested. I was finalizing my work… And they were originally aimed to heal the…your… the Queen's son! I never intended…"_

_- "Hel is full of people who had intentions and failed to fulfill them"_

Odin was disgusted by the turn of events. The kingdom was depending on fools unable to foresee the danger their good intentions were leading to. Sigyn had been a naive little girl endangering her doll ; now she was a naive wizard whose Magic was threatening the Realm. He had to focus and get his hands back on the healing spell… or rather on the immortal spell. Immortality…. Immortality as just the very thing he needed. Something he needed, something somebody he rather not called would want. Something which had to be kept safe.

He had to think. Alone. The king flounced out of the halls followed by his guards. Something had to be done and certainly not done by the hapless healers. Eir and Sigyn by their silence had put Asgard in danger. Later he would deal with them. Temporary degradation for the Chief healer… house arrest for the young apprentice? Odin was getting distracted at finding the right punishment for Sigyn; it would have to wait. Somehow he knew there was much more behind the apparent still waters of Sif's sister. Any wizard at such a young age able to modify his m…magic-strong wife spell, was no mean apprentice. The Seidr was strong in her. Which spelt danger for him. There was a streak of rebellion in her… Once the apples safe in his own hands, Sigyn would get her just deserts. And Sif who had always looked down her nose at him would be humiliated as her sibling would be sent to the dungeon for treason like he… like Odin had been when his son had ended up in prison. Prison… could he send the healer in jail for simply having carried on experimenting because the Queen had allowed it? Unless not informing the King of her research… yes, she had failed the king when she had not told him where her magic was leading her. Prison time for Sigyn: not for a long time… Just long enough to teach her some manners toward her betters: her minimalist bow earlier today… yesterday had not come unnoticed. Little Sigyn who had kept a spell conjured by a young Loki would discover soon that Grown Loki had stopped dabbling into 'nice' Magic. Adult Loki knew how to bear a grudge and foolish Sigyn would pay for her disrespect toward the House of Odin.

-_ "See, Father. They will bow to you. Willing or not. Jotuns and Asgardians."_


	5. Chapter 5

Asgard military might had been depleted by the Dark Elves. Their fire power had been precise and efficient and the reason behind such result did not lay on the Aether but on Asgard stupid pride. After King Bor successful raid on Malekith, nothing but the Frost Giants last war had caused trouble in the Realm Eternal. True some realms were at war but Asgard was safe. Because everybody felt sure Malekith was gone and forever, nobody had considered moving the garrisons, the missiles silos, the spaceports where the ships were docking. Asgard had rested like a lazy cat rests under the sun and Asgard had suffered for this foolishness.

Odin King was right in restoring the power of his troops, but such was the amplitude of needed repairs it would take time to be back to its previous levels. Meanwhile the Giants had in their hands a wonderful treasure sure to provide again and again healthy and vigorous soldiers. The magical apples though it really should have been called the magical chemicals of eternal health were not going to be lost for long. Giants with Thiazi at their heads would soon be found around the walls of the Realm Eternal. Walls every Aesir knew now not to be secure.

Odin has no need for rest. Mercifully he was able to avoid falling into Odin sleep and was walking along his captains and generals discussing attacks, counter-attacks, subterfuges. If only he had been as sharp of mind when the Accursed had stricken! Time was not to be lost in vague musings of 'what might have been'.

Some of the palace windows were alight all through the night. The All Father was reading for war with the enthusiasm of a young warrior. Jotunheim was going to feel the power of his staff like it had in the past. Still he needed some information about the magical reviving cores; he ordered his guards to bring him the silly healer, cause of the peril.

- _"My king… the healer is not in the Healing Rooms"_

A sigh escaped the royal lips, prompting more hurried response.

- _"Lady Eir has not seen her since last night… I mean since this morning… err I should amend this as … the Lady Eir has not seen the Lady Sigyn since the Lady Sigyn has left the healing halls after you departed from them"_

_- "For the love of the World Tree have you visited her lodgings. Am I to teach you the basics of your duty?"_

The squadron of guards were exchanging glances as to whom who be the scapegoat to the building royal anger against such impotent soldiers. Finally, the oldest of the lot took responsibility and spoke.

- _"Aye, my liege. We did. We knocked on the ladies' door. Nobody answering, we op… pu… rammed it open. The abode was empty. There was no healer. The Lady Sif was equally noticeably absent."_

The royal fingers were tapping on the throne arms. All Father was sprawling on the royal seat, silent proof of an older body in need of rest. Inwardly, the guards were dreading the moment their king would need physically to enter the Odin sleep. With the heir to the throne now in Midgard and no spare prince in view since Loki was dead; ... if the king became unavailable, what was to come of their beloved city?

A few quick orders of command and the Einherjars were out looking for the Warriors Three.

Later, much later. A lot more later than it is becoming when the king calls you to stand at the foot of his throne, walked in the famous three Asgardians. Friends of Thor and the Lady Sif. Enemies of the enemies of the Realm. Protectors of the Throne.

Fandral as subtle in words as his sword was deadly.

Hogun as grim as his mace when she left many wounded around her on the battlefield.

Volstagg, merry rotund Volstagg whose axe blew mortal kisses to whom was fool enough to be dancing with.

The warriors kneeled and bowed. Their right wrist on their heart.

- _"Hail to you, our Lord and King"_

_- "I must get old. My eye is deceiving me. I just count 3 warriors when I have expressly commanded the 4 best warriors of Asgard"_

If Odin had held some suspicion previously as why it had taken so long to bring to him the Warriors Three, said suspicions were now formally answered. There was a conspiration; a plot against him. He was a king betrayed. Betrayed once more.

As it was the sudden interest in a nearby tapestry by Fandral was matched by Hogun's fascination on his own boot;, as for Volstagg, his eyes were simply unable to find a place to rest. The ceiling, the columns, the guards, everywhere but to look at the king he could not do. The curs... the traitors were shamelessly trying to pass off as... fools?

- _"Not only, my sight is degrading; but my voice must have weakened when nobody is able to hear me when I order to my rooms the presence of the Lady Sif"_

The name of the Asgardian beauty that was gracing the warriors training fields caused a flutter of agitation to the Warriors Three.

Hogun was transfixed by a sculpted detail on the great throne, Volstagg's neck was paralyzed in a weird lateral position which was allowing not to look not at the king yet manage to provide a gracious bow as the wide girted Warrior was known for pristine courtly manners. Fandral was dusting his gloves from invisible specks as always with elegance and thoroughness.

This time, there was no senile voice but a full blown raging order shout through Odin's lips.

- _"Where is Sif? Should I say: Where are Sif and Sigyn? Am I to believe the two sisters are traitors to my realm? Traitors who were accomplices to the thieves of my halls, criminals who now are set to join the enemies of Asgard?"_

This time, the Warriors were moved to speak. All at the same time.

- _"No!"_

_"- Yes, I mean No. … I mean … No and yes... It is complicated!"_

_- "There is no more traitor in the House of Sif than there is in our own houses"!_

The king's ravens were fluttering behind Odin; the ravens knew more than men of wisdom and spoke with words no one could understand.

- _"I see… Sif decided that the stain of dishonor was too much and that … the two of them had to travel together to get back the… what was stolen under Sigyn's watch. And you three had no concern about two mere women traveling alone to Jotunheim?"_

Truth be told, the Warriors Three had been very concerned. Sif had waited for her sister return from the palace. She knew something had happened; the soldier was not a liar and her sister had been out. Naturally, the silly girl would not admit it; but Sif knew better. Theoric had tried to woo Sigyn and Sigyn was too shy to admit it. Theoric would get an earful from her older sibling; in the meanwhile something had happened in the healing halls and Sif wanted to know more about it. And her friends wanted to learn more about it. Each one eager for a distraction. Everybody wishing afterward they had not pushed Sigyn into reveal the truth.

At first, the Warriors Three were pouring to their friend's ears their private concerns.

Was Fandral so decrepit, that his young nephew would be old enough to start courting maids?

Were Hogun's teachings about proper courtly manners so effective his own cousin would feel moved to play at his age a duena?

Where was the world going to when his precious little baby was willingly ensnared by the dubious tactics of rakes old enough… old enough… well six months older than his baby was, made a great difference!

Sigyn has returned a lugubrious silent form. Oh, she had attempted at playing the smiling if not much talkative Sigyn of yore but her heart was not set on it. Sif had gently twisted her arm and obtained the truth. From that, the older woman had ordered her companions to keep silent as long as they could and announced that the House of Sif had no choice but to recover the treasure lost under its watch. By now, the two girls must be in Jotunheim snce a good many hours!

From what was told in three voices weaving one tale, the story was was that as soon as it had been clear Sigyn had run foul of Odin, Sif had made up her mind to recover herself the mysterious spell. Her three friends had offered to join in. But the warrior maid had declined. This was a matter of secrecy. Unlike last cursed journey to the Realm of the Jotnar, the women would hide, avoiding trouble and the Frost Giants. They would direct their steps to the warmer climate of the City of Utgardr where the King of the Giants had his own palace. There, they would find a way to get admitted into it. After that, Sigyn felt confident she could trace the apples. Once the magic fruits back in Asgardian hands, Sif would call on Heimdall and … all would be forgotten… Of sorts.

- "And you let one lone woman who is martially trained to face all the Jotuns ... when last time Thor little junket was so successful despite taking along six experienced warriors"

Fandral interrupted Odin without noticing it.

- _"Six?... Oh… Loki. Silver-Tongue can… could hold his own but he is… was more of the intellectual variety. Not that he did not try and save my life"_

_- "Aye. He did. He did and watched your back... "_

_- "As you say my liege. This journey was ill-fated. I almost lost my arm and your… I mean Thor br… well Loki… he lost his mind"_

The king was having none of this dangerous trip down the lanes of Memory. Fate… The Norns would have said Loki was doomed from Birth. Paying probably for crimes omitted in a past life. The powerful wizard was dead. All Father had better things to do. Among these being the recovery of his late Queen most precious gift to Asgard. A gift with the potential of making it for ever eternal. Asgard could become indeed the Realm of Gods!

- _"Loki is dead and there is no here and there. You left an amazon with a would-be sorceress to play hide and seek with Jotuns!"_

_- "They wanted none of us. They would have and avoid asking for passage from Heimdall if they had had the choice. The only thing they granted us was to help and delay your knowledge of their decision"_

_- "Twas no treason. They wanted to serve you, AllFather. Wanted to make you proud of them. Show you were right in trusting in them"_

By now, the infernal sisters must have been in Jotunheim for half a day. They might be dead already… He should have arrested Sigyn when it was time. She would have been made to reconstitute the spell… to the very last to confess the part she had played in the making of the magic chemicals. The part Frigga had played in the elaboration of it was lost. This healer… this healer knew more than she had cared to confess.

Frigga wanted to find h… her son. The Queen must have spent long weeks throwing the Runes Bones trying to find the Rock where her wayward son had fallen… Meanwhile the healer was already reading thick volumes of musty books reeking of old powerful Magic. Had she visited books written about the Aether? Frigga had free access to Odin's secret library… Little Sigyn, naive Sigyn reading about the Darkness and what was before it… Reading what was before when Darkness ruled and Life broke free from its chains.

-_ "I summon Heimdall, my loyal Keeper of the Bifrost to tell me where the Lady Sif and her… stupid sister are now!"_

_- "Your request is our command, my King. We shall return with him"_

Again, the king was left alone in his throne room. Again, he entered the concealed staircase leading to the chamber where the not-dead but so much not alive former Prince of Asgard was resting. This time, he signaled to Eir she could leave. He had to think and he was thinking clearer near the lifeless body. A body which had been his not so long ago. A body into which he could not re-habit because of the severity of the damage caused by the Elves sword.

After sustaining the deadly blow through his chest, he had believed to go through his last instants of life. To Thor he had been sincere in giving his good byes… then the tempest had risen and he had passed out. When he had woken up, Thor was gone and he was looking at his own body.

Something had happened. Was it like the Aether, when destroyed by the lighting surging from Mjolnir, it had managed to relive again? Each drop of broken Aether has slowly recomposed uniting piece by piece. Was it what had happened? Each and every magical part of him had been bled to death one by one; yet one by one each and every particle of his astral projection had been magnetically attracted to another particle recomposing his astral projection and here he was. His body was about no better than dead but his spirit… oh, his spirit was alive and already scheming…


	6. Chapter 6

After the few seconds of rejoicing at being still alive despite all odds, Odin's second son had tried to re-channel his projection into his body to no avail. The loss of blood had been so intense and quick that the physical container of the being called Loki had shut itself down. As to keep it from a complete breakdown. His magic had succeeded in salvaging the main component of what was Loki: his spiritual essence. He was alive and now his body was waiting for him to repair it.

How to repair anything when you are a projection? Now he knew the helplessness a clone might have felt if a clone had been the owner of a soul. He was a disembodied spirit… A ghost… N, not a ghost! Ghosts had powers. His furious foot kick into a stone went through it. The tempest was lifting sand and rocks around and through him…. He was … nothing. At least when he had fallen through the wormhole (not one of his best-inspired decisions) he has been able to be one. To be body and soul. When he had fallen on … on this place he'd rather forget, the creäture called The Other had tried to break the spirit of the son of O… the son of … the creature had done his best but had failed.

What Thanos and despair had not managed to do, a dull wound had succeeded. His projection fell on his knees… on what plane… on what dimension… he tried again and again to find a way, an entrance into his own self. Nothing was giving.

Thor. Stupid Thor. Where are you? The tempest was still ongoing… And the mortal! Where was she? Was he going to finally die? What is the last jerk of a dying soul? Were his last seconds to be the prey of nightmarish hallucinations? He had been found left alone, abandoned, left to die. Now bare millennia later, he was finally going to die, left alone, abandoned. Perfect mirror of his inauspicious beginnings.

-_ "Death, take me. I am ready. Let the axe fall"_

He had waited; he had listened to the silence which slowly was following the calming down of the tempest. Wherever Thor and the Midgardian were, they were gone and his physical body was covered by a shroud of dust.

-_ "How poetic!"_

Disgusted by the turn of events, he sat heavily… he must have sit on what? … The astral projection of a large boulder rock behind him. All he had to do was to wait. Wait for the rescue mission Odin Borson was bound to send to Svartalfheim to bring back Thor and Jane … and take back Loki Laufeyson to the dungeons. This time, he was really facing a very long and lonely imprisonment into Asgard dungeons.

Frigga… no, not Frigga. Mother… his mother would never visit him. Would never come again. Death had never seemed so attractive and so elusive. Prison he could face; he would gladly face if … if Mother was alive. He would willingly accept never to see her again, knowing she was there, she was alive and well. Death had eluded him on his native cold world; Death had ignored him in the wormhole and on Thanos rock. The blows he had suffered from the Green Beast had but bruised him and now, when a sword was planted through his chest, he was still somehow, however imperfectly alive.

Inside the prison, he had raged and raged more. Raged against his… stepfather, raged against Thor. Raged against the Universe. Only Frigga had known the words to calm him down. Spoken of hope… To be rebuked and verbally assaulted by his choicest insults.

-_ "I see you have made good use at traveling by enlarging your vocabulary. Still, these words do not fit our table"_

And she had laughed. She… Mother had laughed at them and he had had the grace to blush. From this, they had slowly rebuilt the strong binds of affection which had always existed between them. Both expert sorcerers. Mother and son. She had been the buffer between an angry father and an angrier child.

-_ "Mother, what am I to do?_"

To be a king was his birth right, he had coldly proclaimed… At the minute, to own his body was his first concern. The wait was long and all he could do was to remember the last precious and cruel, so cruel moments he had shared with his mother. When the memories were too unbearable, he found himself miles away from where he had been standing a second ago. By focusing his formidable intellect, he was soon able to master what had taken weeks for his mother. He could return to Asgard and witness the aftermath of the attack. All what he had missed… and it had hurt. Asgard needed a strong hand at its helm, a leader able to lead its reconstruction. An able king … free from the quiet despair his… his stepfather was showing. Thor had called him an old man. Yes, an old man.

His anger was still there; but the crying needs of Asgard were coming first. He witnessed how the rescue ship departed the realm and he was there when it landed on Svartalfheim. He was free to travel; he would not leave. He had to do his duty to his mother's kingdom.

-_ "Well! Fools, it has taken you all this time to turn up?"_

It took them time to find his body; too long for his impotent disgust of the situation. At long last, they were loading his body inside the ship; this was the now or never moment. The fail or pass test had come. Finally it had come.

He had seen it all; he could do it. He could pull it. He would do it.

When the Aether had entered into Malekith nesting inside him like a snake rests on his coils like a mind parasite invisible yet present; when the disembodied power had become Malekith using the body of the Dark Elf, it had shown him how it could be done. The Aether was archaic; the Aether was a lot less complex than a sharp mind like his. The Aether was ridden by Malekith; but he was Loki. He would use the knowledge he had made his from the Magic used by the Aether to take over a body. Any body. Every body. He would have soon a body again and the moment was now.

The soldier saw nothing occupied as he was looking at the distance fearful of an attack of the bunch of marauders who had managed to escape the prisons during the attack. Not a lot, but enough to share information to Asgard's many enemies. Naturally against payment.

The soldier was looking at the horizon while his companions were desperately trying to revive the fast slipping prince. How he had managed to keep … not alive … but like sitting on a fence. Neither alive, neither dead. All this was a mystery… They hailed him to return, their attention devoted to Loki's body. And Loki struck like an adder falls from a tree, unseen from its victim. Like a snow wolf pounces on its unsuspected prey. Green sparkling dust danced in the wind of the barren lands of the Dark World and entered the astral body of the soldier. Loki had done what he had so much wanted.

Now his body was his and no doubt, the soldier's own soul was inside his previous physical shell. Loki was not to waste precious time on worrying about the soldier mind and its ability or not to make sense to what was happening to him. He wished him no ill; let him sleep!

After that, after the return to Asgard… after a cocky wink to Heimdall who did not recognize him and how could he? He offered to announce to the King the painful discovery, an offer gladly accepted by the squadron. Nobody was having the courage to announce to their beloved grieving king that soon he would have to order the flight of another burning arrow.

If the king felt the words of the Einherjar cruel or his approach insensitive, he did not show it. Odin turned his head, looking at the throne whose protection had just cost him so much. The old monarch did not see the green swirling shiny dust lifting from the suddenly staggering soldier; he might have seen if he had cared. As it is, the king was himself was falling into the oblivious Odin Sleep. It was time for Loki to take over.

The swaying soldier was curtly dismissed and sent to another realm to hunt and capture Marauders. No doubt, the man was greatly shaken by the experience of having his soul, his inner core locked in a about dead body. Nobody would believe him and if this instability of the mind led to an accidental death of a battlefield far from Asgard, so much the better. Loki had no love for witnesses of his… tricks.

-_ "Yes, Thor. Call them tricks. Mock them. They are too subtle for you to understand… to appreciate"_

As for … Father, his cruel parent was now inside the private secret room Odin had ordered to prepare hoping against all hope that his 'sons' would come back alive. Wounded maybe, but alive.

Odin now asleep inside his son's body would be able to rest for certainty… as long as it was needed and Loki was going to make sure of this. Asgard needed a strong king; the Golden realm needed a forceful king. A ruthless one if needs there were.

Thor had returned to face his father after betraying his orders and deprived him of his revenge. Not that Loki had not in a way come up to terms with the many complicated issues he had about his step… about his brother. His sincere eulogy, his real grief… his true words of admiration won him over.

- "To my son I could not say…"

Brother, you have no ambition and it suits me. Brother, wonderful great brother of mine, you deserve happiness with this mortal of yours. Odin opposes it but Mother… Mother she liked her. Be happy brother; enjoy these few stolen moments of bliss. In less than the blink of an Asgardian eye, she will be … gone. You were never good at looking at all the parameters of a problem, were you?

For me, I shall rule as a king. At it is my birth right. And if Asgard believes me to be Father, I do not care. I did not do it for him; I did it for me. I did it for Mother and you. I did it for Asgard!

And the king had carried on ruling, taking decisions, proving again and again that Odin was the wisest king of all the realms. Leading.

Spending his nights watching over his beloved city. Checking on regular intervals on the sleeper whose youthful chiselled looks remained unmarred despite his dire status.

The king was ruling. Sitting on his throne. Sounding the hearts and souls of his people. Sitting on his throne and more than often seeing turning his eye toward the vacant place where the Queen had stood. In happier days.

And Loki discovered that being a lonely king was not a part of his plan. Everything he has sort of improvised, managed along the way. There were plans and sudden leaps into uncertainty. There had been danger and terrifying situations. There had been pains, physical pains yet overwhelmingly surpassed by the emotional distresses he had suffered and these were nothing compared to the grief he was feeling when he was thinking about Frigga. He knew his father was now a widower; e accepted that. Why then was he feeling so lonely?


End file.
